Geo-blocking has always been a cat and mouse game as US streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix strive to keep out foreigners. Hulu has upped the stakes again, recently cracking down on visitors using a Virtual Private Network to mask their location and trick the Hulu servers into thinking they're visiting from within the United States. There are still plenty of ways to sneak into Hulu, but it does pose the question of whether Hulu is preparing to launch in other countries.

Hulu's latest geo-blocking effort doesn't block everyone using a VPN. It merely blocks devices using IP addresses associated with popular VPN services that are commonly used for geo-dodging, according to TorrentFreak. If you're using a business-grade VPN provider, or a lesser-known consumer-grade service, then you might not be affected.

If you are affected, rather than the standard geo-blocking message, you'll see:

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"Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you're in the U.S., you'll need to disable your anonymiser to access videos on Hulu."

All is not lost even if you are relying on a high-profile VPN service to access Hulu. Some VPN providers offer multiple servers within the US and make it easy to switch between them. If you're blocked when using a major VPN server in New York or Los Angeles, try a server in a smaller US city. Your mileage may vary, but this has worked in the past when streaming services have cracked down on VPNs.

Connections speeds might not be as fast in the smaller cities, which can hamper streaming video, but if you keep trying you've got a good chance of finding a server which has been configured to bypass Hulu's latest geo-blocking efforts. A Google search will usually turn up people discussing the latest workarounds in the forums.

Where there's a will there's a way, and foreigners will always find new tricks for sneaking into Hulu, so why has the streaming service decided to ramp up its geo-blocking efforts now? Is it simply an effort to appease rights holders? There's growing pressure on Netflix to keep out Australians to protect local rights holders such as Foxtel and Quickflix. Hulu would naturally experience similar pressure.

Or is Hulu ramping up its defences because it's preparing to expand into foreign markets? If Hulu and Netflix do have plans for Australia you can be sure they'll work harder to keep us out of their US sites, because the US services are still likely to offer a better deal than an official Australian service. In Australia, Hulu and Netflix would have to abide by local rights agreements with the likes of Foxtel. Aussies would end up paying more than US users but getting less in return. To be honest, we're better off just sneaking into the US sites.

While Netflix seemingly has a close eye on Australia, it's unlikely that Hulu is looking to take the plunge at this point. To date Hulu's international expansion attempts haven't fared as well as Netflix's efforts.

Earlier this year Hulu bailed on its three year-old Japanese service, selling it to Nippon TV although retaining the Hulu branding. At the time, Hulu chief executive Mike Hopkins said:

"I'm confident that the Hulu business in Japan is in very good hands, and Nippon TV will take the service to new heights, with the added benefit of allowing us to focus on our growing business here in the US."

Hulu's senior vice president of international operations left last year and Hulu was even up for sale for a few months until the owners – Walt Disney, Comcast and 21st Century Fox – decided to sink more money into it. Right now Hulu seems focused on striking deals with US cable TV networks to help stave off the "cable cutting" trend of people abandoning pay TV in favour of the internet. Like HBO Go, there's talk of restricting HuluPlus to people with a home cable TV subscription.

Hulu's VPN crackdown may be an effort to appease its US masters, perhaps to improve targeted advertising. But at this stage international expansion plans seem to be on the backburner and it's unlikely that Hulu is planning a big push in the near future.

Do you sneak into US-only streaming video services? Which would you like to see come to Australia?

24 comments

I've used Hulu very occasionally but in the end, if someone wants to discriminate against me I'm not going to go out of my way to give them money.

Commenter

Caser

Date and time

April 28, 2014, 11:23AM

To help out all the effected Hulu subscribers, thepiratebay.se has ensured that it will remain open to all who want to continue to enjoy content.

Commenter

wsDK_II

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

April 29, 2014, 8:10AM

It's a new world. .stop the geo blocking..it's offensive. .people wouldn't mind paying a small fee but having to wait until local channels decide to air episodes is ridiculous. .some of them aren't considered"popular" so they just hold onto them but we still can't see them until they're aired here. Pathetic. ..no wonder people pirate. Same with book releases.

Commenter

beautiful one day Bleijied the next

Date and time

April 28, 2014, 11:45AM

I've used both Hulu and Netflix as well as US iTunes for the large amount of creative content I consume. Having worked for 40 years in the music, film and interactive industries, I have a moral imperative to pay for content, but I can't stomach going through the local gatekeepers, specifically Foxtel who have increased prices heftily, reduced great content as much as they can and also injected advertising into programming that was previously ad-free.

Living in a coastal mini-city, I used to subscribe to Austar but when Foxtel took them over, the rot was fast and I pulled my subscription. I feel no guilt for using the VPN bypass as the copyright owners are getting paid, the value is fair and te downloads are instant. Especailly now that we have 100mbs speed from the new NBN connection.

Commenter

Phil Tripp

Date and time

April 28, 2014, 11:48AM

When your only other options are to pay $100 a month for Foxtel, or Pirate, I'd rather pay the $20 a month for a DNS spoofer, Hulu and Netflix. If they block it, I can tell you right now Pirating is a lot more appealing than lining Murdoch and Telstra's pockets for their awful overpriced service.

Commenter

Daniel

Location

Canberra

Date and time

April 28, 2014, 12:00PM

There's always Quickflix. Hoyts seems to be setting up a service as well. With their clout as a distributor we might see some great pricing and content action happening.

Commenter

Peter for PM

Date and time

April 29, 2014, 7:31AM

Not to mention there is not tie in to contracts with Netflix and its ON DEMAND, therefore you can watch a whole series in a week then discotinue - all add free of course.

It a no-brainer...

Commenter

GKB

Location

here

Date and time

April 29, 2014, 8:41AM

Not sure I really understand the efforts taken to stream from the US. As mentioned, its a cat and mouse game (read hassle), it usually costs to get a VPN setup, the video quality is usually highly compressed for streaming and the distance means speads and connections can be iffy.

And here's the rub, as far as the content holders and the law are concerned (and the moralists for that matter) you're just as bad as anyone downloading a show from TPB or Usenet. You're still up for the same potential jail time or $100,000's in fines (its just that its almost never enforced). You're still "stealing" (whatever that means).

All I'm saying is if you want to watch GOT then you might as well just download it.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

April 28, 2014, 12:09PM

The courts have upheld circumventing region protections (as opposed to copyright protections) in the past. You are not breaching the Copyright Act either. The only thing you are doing is technically breaching the contract with the service by not being in that country. So the worst that can happen is they disconnect you.

Not to mention they owners of the content are getting paid for their work.